Dr. Stefanie Benjamin, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, University of Tennesee Knoxville

STEFANIE BENJAMIN

Co-Director, she/her

Stefanie Benjamin, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Retail, Hospitality, and Tourism Management department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her research interests include social equity in tourism around the intersectionality of race, gender, sexual orientation, and people with disabilities. She also researches film-induced tourism, implements improvisational theater games as innovative pedagogy, and is a certified qualitative researcher exploring collective storytelling, duo-ethnography, visual methodology, and social media analysis. Lastly, she serves as a Faculty Advisor on the Equity and Diversity Board for the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity & Engagement at UTK.

Expertise: Race & Whiteness Studies, Critical tourism studies, Black travel movement, People with Disabilities in travel, Solo Women Travel, Enslavement & Heritage Tourism

Contact: sbenjam1@utk.edu

Selected Publications

Benjamin, S., & Dillette, A. K. (2021). Black Travel Movement: Systemic racism informing tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 88, 103169.

Dillette, A., & Benjamin, S. (2021). The Black Travel Movement: A Catalyst for Social Change. Journal of Travel Research, 0047287521993549.

Benjamin, S., Dillette, A., & Alderman, A. (2020). “We can’t return to normal”: Committing to tourism equity in the post-pandemic age. Tourism Geographies, 22 (3), p.476 – 483

Benjamin, S., Bottone, E., & Lee, M. (2020). Beyond accessibility: exploring the Representation Of people with disabilities in tourism marketing materials. Journal of Sustainable Tourism.

Current Grants

NOMADNESS Travel Tribe, & Tourism RESET Identifying Mega Travel Trends of the Black Traveler. ($1000) Mini Grant – UTK Diversity and Engagement Office.

Alderman, D., Butefish, K., Kenna, J., Benjamin, S., Bottone, E.. 2021 - 2022. National Endowment for the Humanities. The Role of Geographic Mobility in the African American Freedom Struggle. ($191,236)

Special Features